Just in time for Living Wage Week, the 350th Living Wage employer to sign-up to the Brighton & Hove campaign was digital start-up SomeoneWho. We chatted to Andrew Saffron, co-founder:
Firstly, tell us a bit more about your business…
We’re a digital platform that matches top quality interims with top quality briefs. Created by a team of interims for interims, our algorithm cuts out the middleman and provides a faster, more affordable recruitment experience.
What’s the best thing about being a business in Brighton & Hove?
Brighton & Hove is vibrant, fun and full of energy. It’s an amazing experience to be surrounded by so many like-minded people.
What’s the main reason you’ve committed to paying all your employees the Brighton & Hove Living Wage?
Simply because it’s the right thing to do.
How do you maintain great staff morale?
You have to treat people as you would wish to be treated. That’s all there is to it.
What’s the most important thing for employee well-being?
To recognise that we’re all human beings – we have good days, we have bad days. The best we can do as employers is to create an environment in which your team can have as many good days as possible and to show understanding and support them when they’re having a bad day. Did you know that some big global organisations no longer specify the number of days per year that their staff can take as holiday? Instead they tell their staff that they can take as many as they like as long as work gets done on time and to a good standard. That sounds like the gold standard of employee well-being to me.
What’s most damaging to staff morale and well-being?
I suspect we’re all increasingly feeling the impact of volume of work. The joy can be sucked out of working by the amount you have to get through in a day and those days are getting longer and longer.
What do you think that your employees would say is the best thing about working for your business?
I make a really good cup of tea.
And finally, is there anything you want to plug?
We recently re-launched! Our algorithm learnt some new tricks, our pricing plan has been completely reworked to be better and fairer than ever. And we now work with an even broader base of people and sectors.
Interview by Fugu PR
For us at Toto we believe in all of us earning a good living wage and we always have done this since day one.
We support the Living Wage Campaign because we believe passionately that the city and the people who live and work within it need a good wage structure for everyone to be well and healthy. People need to earn enough to be able afford healthy food and activities.
"We feel that it’s essential that staff feel valued and supported and the Living Wage Campaign does so much to help ensure that hard-working people get a fair and reasonable income. This is why the College is proud to give this campaign our wholehearted backing."
We believe it is important in the context of a wider intention to provide long term employment for all our staff & something that is important for the Brighton & Hove hospitality sector.
We believe that everyone deserves the right to the living wage.
